In the field of telephony communication, there have been many improvements in technology over the years that have contributed to more efficient use of telephone communication within hosted call-center environments. Most of these improvements involve integrating the telephones and switching systems in such call centers with computer hardware and software adapted for, among other things, better routing of telephone calls, faster delivery of telephone calls and associated information, and improved service with regards to client satisfaction. Such computer-enhanced telephony is known in the art as computer-telephony integration (CTI).
Generally speaking, CTI implementations of various design and purpose are implemented both within individual call-centers and, in some cases, at the telephone network level. For example, processors running CTI software applications may be linked to telephone switches, service control points (SCP), and network entry points within a public or private telephone network. At the call-center level, CTI-enhanced processors, data servers, transaction servers, and the like, are linked to telephone switches and, in some cases, to similar CTI hardware at the network level, often by a dedicated digital link. CTI and other hardware within a call-center is commonly referred to as customer premises equipment (CPE). It is the CTI processor and application software is such centers that provides computer enhancement to a call center.
In a CTI-enhanced call center, telephones at agent stations are connected to a central telephony switching apparatus, such as an automatic call distributor (ACD) switch or a private branch exchange (PBX). The agent stations may also be equipped with computer terminals such as personal computer/video display unit's (PC/VDU's) so that agents manning such stations may have access to stored data as well as being linked to incoming callers by telephone equipment. Such stations may be interconnected through the PC/VDUs by a local area network (LAN). One or more data or transaction servers may also be connected to the LAN that interconnects agent stations. The LAN is, in turn, connected to the CTI processor, which is connected to the call switching apparatus of the call center.
When a call arrives at a call center, whether or not the call has been pre-processed at an SCP, typically at least the telephone number of the calling line is made available to the receiving switch at the call center by the network provider. This service is available by most networks as caller-ID information in one of several formats such as Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS). If the call center is computer-enhanced (CTI) the phone number of the calling party may be used as a cross-reference key to access additional information from a customer information system (CIS) database at a server on the network that connects the agent workstations. In this manner information pertinent to a call may be provided to an agent, often as a screen pop, and in some cases prior to a call being connected to the agent.
Proprietorship of CTI equipment both at individual call-centers and within a telephone network can vary widely. For example, a phone company may provide and lease CTI equipment to a service organization hosting a number of call-centers. A telecommunications company may provide and lease CTI equipment and capability to an organization hosting call centers. In many cases, a service organization (call center host) may obtain and implement it's own CTI capability and so on.
In recent years, advances in computer technology, telephony equipment, and infrastructure have provided many opportunities for improving telephone service in publicly-switched and private telephone intelligent networks. Similarly, development of a separate information and packet data network known as the Internet, together with advances in computer hardware and software have led to a new multi-media telephone system known in the art by several names. In this new systemology, telephone calls are simulated by multi-media computer equipment, and data, such as audio data, is transmitted over data networks as data packets. In this application the broad term used to describe such computer-simulated telephony is Data Network Telephony (DNT).
For purposes of nomenclature and definition, the inventors wish to distinguish clearly between what might be called conventional telephony, which is the telephone service enjoyed by nearly all citizens through local telephone companies and several long-distance telephone network providers, and what has been described herein as computer-simulated telephony or data-network telephony. The conventional system is familiar to nearly all, and is often referred to in the art as Plain Old Telephony Service (POTS). In the POTS system calls are connection oriented lending to the preferred terminology, connection-orientated-switched-telephony or COST. The COST designation will be used extensively herein when describing typical connection orientated networks or calls.
The computer-simulated, or DNT systems, are familiar to those who use and understand computer systems. Perhaps the best example of DNT is telephone service provided over the Internet, which will be referred to herein as Internet Protocol Network Telephony (IPNT), by far the most extensive, but still a subset of DNT. DNT is a term used to describe basically any type of packet switched network whether public or private. Examples of DNT networks include the public Internet, Intranets, private company owned wide area networks (WANs), and so on. These DNT networks may operate using several differing or combined protocol, but generally are supportive of DNT.
Both systems use signals transmitted over network links. In fact, connection to data networks for DNT such as IPNT is typically accomplished over local telephone lines, used to reach such as an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The definitive difference is that COST telephony may be considered to be connection-oriented as previously described. In the COST system, calls are placed and connected by a specific dedicated path, and the connection path is maintained over the time of the call. Bandwidth is thus assured. Other calls and data do not share a connected channel path in a COST system. A DNT system, on the other hand, is not connection oriented or dedicated in terms of bandwidth. That is, data, including audio data, is prepared, sent, and received as data packets. The data packets share network links, and may travel by varied and variable paths.
Under ideal operating circumstances a DNT network, such as the Internet, has all of the audio quality of conventional public and private intelligent telephone-networks, and many advantages accruing from the aspect of direct computer-to-computer linking. However, DNT applications must share the bandwidth available on the network in which they are traveling. As a result, real-time voice communication may at times suffer dropout and delay (latency). This is at least partially due to packet loss experienced during periods of less-than-needed bandwidth which may prevail under certain conditions such as congestion during peak periods of use, and so on.
Recent improvements to available technologies associated with the transmission and reception of data packets during real-time DNT communication have enabled companies to successfully add DNT, principally IPNT capabilities to existing CTI call centers. Such improvements, as described herein and known to the inventor, include methods for guaranteeing available bandwidth or quality of service (QoS) for a transaction, improved mechanisms for organizing, coding, compressing, and carrying data more efficiently using less bandwidth, and methods and apparatus for intelligently replacing lost data via using voice supplementation methods and enhanced buffering capabilities.
In typical call centers, DNT is often accomplished via Internet connection wherein IPNT calls may be placed or received. Call centers may also be linked to sub-networks, including private networks that are linked to the Internet. Data packets arrive at the call center after having traveled from node-to-node through the DNT network or networks, and must be sorted and simulated at the call center on a PC/VDU (computer with display), or DN-capable telephone. DNT-capable call centers are more appropriately termed communication centers in the art because of the added scope of media possibilities presented therein. Therefore, the term communication center will be used extensively hereinafter when describing a call center.
In systems known to the inventors, incoming IPNT calls are processed and routed within an IPNT-capable call-center in much the same way as COST calls are routed in a CTI-enhanced center, using similar or identical routing rules, waiting queues, and so on, aside from the fact that there are two separate networks involved. Call centers having both CTI and IPNT capability utilize LAN-connected agent-stations with each station having a telephony-switch-connected headset or phone, and a PC connected, in most cases via LAN, to the network carrying the IPNT calls. Therefore, in most cases, IPNT calls are routed to the agent's PC while conventional telephony calls are routed to the agent's conventional telephone or headset. Typically separate lines and equipment must be implemented for each type of call weather COST or IPNT.
Much has been accomplished with regard to increasing the intelligence and capability of COST telephony at the network level before calls arrive at a call center. However, no such inroads have been made with regard to DNT telephony at network level. This is in part due to the nature of data-packet networks wherein data travels by varied and variable routes. Generally speaking, routing within a DNT network is indiscriminate from node to node with only the next destination address of the next node as a routing guideline for individual packets.
In COST systems known to the inventor, intelligent routing rules have been extended into the public network domain principally via the addition of CTI processing capability at the network level. For example, SCPs may be enhanced with a processor running varied software routines adapted to increase intelligence in call handling. Intelligent peripherals, statistical servers, transactional servers, and the like give added control regarding call handling to individual communication centers that support complimentary equipment and software.
Of particular notice is the recent implementation of T-server function (known to the inventor) within COST networks allowing the communication center to exert control over standard telephony switches and routers involved in routing both incoming and outgoing communication. The CTI processor renders the proprietary nature of many of these switches and routers as a non-factor with regards to compatibility with each other. Hence, the implementation renders systems platform-independent. These CTI Processors, known to the inventors as T-server functions (largely software) installed in the switch or router-connected processors can communicate with each other via a separate digital network that links the processors and routers to each other and to similar equipment in the communication center. In this way, call identification, destination verification, importance or priority of the call, and who best to deliver the call to may be decided before the call arrives in the domain of the communication center. Moreover, information about the call and the calling party may be routed ahead of the actual call so that agent's are better prepared to handle the call.
As more and more telephony is being practiced over switched-packet data networks, it becomes desirable to enhance such networks with added intelligence so that calls may be routed intelligently in much the same way as in a COST network. Recent advances in technology have made it possible to convert COST calls to DNT format and vice versa, however, systems known to the inventor to have this capability are lacking in intelligence on the DNT network side with regards to further routing of calls.
What is clearly needed is a method and apparatus that would provide a controllable intelligence to switches and routers within a DNT network so that calls originating from either a data-packet network, or a COST network may be routed intelligently and in a platform independent fashion according to communication center rules. Such method and apparatus would do much to revolutionize the way that DNT is practiced as well as further aid in seamless integration between COST and DNT networks.